Summer Stone Fruit Salad with Blue Cheese and Pecans

While peaches may rule the South, other varieties of stone fruit can be a tasty late summer alternative. Stone fruits work almost interchangeably in salads, with only slight differences in sweetness and acidity. For this salad, choose sweeter black plums over the more tart red varieties. Pungent blue cheese acts as a salty counterpoint to the sweet fruit, and the fragrant nuttiness of toasted pecans adds depth to the salad. You could serve this salad as a starter or as a light dessert. If you’re not a fan of blue cheese, you can easily substitute feta or goat cheese.Serves: 4

Hands On Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup pecan halves, coarsely chopped

4 nectarines, pitted and cut into wedges

4 black plums, pitted and cut into wedges

4 apricots, pitted and cut into wedges

3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

5 sprigs tarragon, leaves stripped

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pecans on a baking sheet or in a dry skillet and toast in the oven until lightly browned and fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine fruit, blue cheese, tarragon, lemon juice, honey, olive oil and toasted pecans. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss until the fruit is lightly coated with dressing and the blue cheese adheres to the fruit. Serve immediately.